Friendship
by WildVegeta
Summary: Vegeta and Goku are close childhood friends, until Frieza arrives to Vegeta-sei to claim the prince and Goku is sent to Earth. Many years later, they inevitably meet again, and find that the child they thought dead is alive, and meant to be an enemy. AU.
1. Friends

Okay, I have to admit that I am quite excited with this story. I've had it in my mind for a while now.

First of all, this is NOT yaoi.

I will be following the series events as much as I can, but I still warn you this is an AU.

I hope you give it a chance and enjoy it!

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><p><strong>I don't own Dragon Ball Z. All rights go to Akira Toriyama and FUNimation.<strong>

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><p>Prologue: Friends.<p>

"Mmmnnn…" Vegeta groaned as he woke up.

He looked up at the annoying little face of his friend, who had been calling his name for kami-knows how many hours now. It was early, considering it was still dark outside and the king had not woken his son up yet to train. The prince looked at the boy before him and glared at him. He was wearing the orange gi he often wore when he wasn't forced to wear the armor. He claimed it to be more comfortable, but Vegeta thought it was plain silly. He raised an eyebrow at the boy as he grinned like a fool at the foot of his wide royal bed.

"Hey, 'Geta! What's up?"

"What are you doing here, Kakkarot?"

"Visiting you, what else?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes and shivered. It was not only damn early, but also dead cold. He reached over to his nightstand and turned the light on, squinting slightly and grabbing his white gloves and putting them on. He pushed the bangs from his eyes and glared again at the clown, who kept on grinning. He then looked over at his window and found the source of his coldness. It was open, of course. The guards wouldn't have let Goku in, so instead he chose to climb up the castle and enter through the window, which Vegeta always kept open from the outside, mainly because, deep down he enjoyed Goku's visits, even if it seemed as if he despised the third-class kid.

"Really, Kakkarot. What are you doing here? Do you have any idea what time is it?"

"Uh… no. But today it's the biggest the horizon star will ever be! Wanna see it?"

"Why would I? I see it every damn night."

"Well yeah, but not as big as today! Come on! Please!"

Vegeta groaned and kicked his covers off of him, slowly getting out of the bed and putting his boots on. He stretched and yawned and frowned as he crossed his arms.

"Well, lead the way, clown."

Goku grinned and his tail waved anxiously as he once again got to the window and flew outside. Vegeta followed him. The two boys flew in the night air as Vegeta-sei's homes passed below them. Saiyan packs usually lived in small, rounded houses in half of the planet. The other half was a forest where they hunted their food and gathered water for the week. The space station where the saiyans – following a schedule made every beginning of the year in the Royal Meetings – went to purge planets for the selling, was next to the palace. It was constantly busy, since Saiyans arrived at any time, although they only shipped in the day. They passed above Goku's home, which was empty since Bardock's crew, which included Celipa, was out on a mission and Radditz had recently become part of the army.

Vegeta knew Goku spent most of his time alone in the house, bored to the bone, so when his friend was free, he always visited him. It wasn't much, though, since Vegeta was almost always enduring training sessions with his father and Commander Nappa, or lessons to become a better king.

One would never have suspected that a thridclass commoner would become friends with the Prince, but it had been fate's decision. Vegeta remembered that day clearly. He was being stubborn as always, disobeying his father and running away instead of assisting the daily two-hour class he was forced to take talking about the planet's rules since it had been conquered by the Saiyans. He despised the class, and he despised the old woman who had been hired for the job. She smelled bad and was mean. So, the small prince fled from the palace.

He didn't get too far before Commander Nappa found him and took him in his arms back to the palace, where his father was waiting for him. Vegeta got beaten by him, like usual, and then had a sermon where his father said he was proud and that he should try to be a better prince. The man was crazy, he always contradicted himself. But then again, almost everyone was crazy in that palace, mostly thanks to little Vegeta. He fled that night again, anyway, tired of being secluded in his room without food as punishment. He decided to go hunting. As he reached the forest, he found he had never been there before. He had flown over it in his journeys to 'know the planet better' with Zorn and his father, but he had never been _inside _it, within the tall, thick trees and long grass.

He squared his shoulder and frowned, looking around. It was difficult to walk, since the uncut grass reached past a normal soldier's knee, which meant it actually covered Vegeta's eyesight completely, and left only the tip of his hair above.

"Dammit. Father should send servants to cut down this grass."

The angry prince was unaware of the animal that stood on the branches high above him, watching him intently. As the small prince stopped and looked around for something to eat, the creature jumped.

Prince Vegeta yelled in surprise as two objects crashed right above him. He whirled around to see a Saiyan boy, not older than him, biting into a creature's neck. He stood there, bewildered, and then his nose scrunched up. _This_ was how they hunted? He then realized that that commoner was stealing _his_ food. He growled and got into a fighting stance.

"Hey, you! How dare you steal Prince Vegeta's food?"

The boy turned and wiped his bloody mouth with his arm, grinning. Vegeta raised an eyebrow. It was not common to see a Saiyan grinning like that. The boy laughed sheepishly and walked up to him, his tail waving behind him. Vegeta straightened u and crossed his arms, analyzing the young Saiyan. He wasn't wearing armor, or a spandex. He was wearing a ridiculous orange gi. He recognized his hair as heritage from a strong soldier whose name he had forgotten. He walked up to the boy and rounded him, looking him up and down as if he were a prey.

"Well, it looked to me as if _you_ were the prey, prince Vegeta!"

Vegeta's eyes widened in horror and he blushed. He lifted a fist and growled.

"Shut up! I'm nobody's prey, idiot!"

"I'm Kakkarot, but my friends call me Goku!"

"What stage are you, Kakkarot?"

"Dad says we are third-staged Sayians."

"You're a thirdclass! Why aren't you kneeling, you insolent brat!"

Goku laughed and put his hands behind his head. He suddenly became more serious as he approached the young prince. "You have an owie!" he said, pointing at Vegeta's black eye. The prince frowned.

"Shut the hell up, idiot. It's a bruise. Don't tell me you've never got one!"

"I get some when I train with Radditz, but that's because he's mean."

"What about purging missions?"

"Oh, I don't have to go yet. Dad says I will begin my missions in a year."

Vegeta frowned. First and second class babies were sent on purging missions from birth, but third class kids were only sent when they turned five.

"You mean you're four years old?"

"Yeah. And you?"

"Five."

They began to talk, and Vegeta found that he wasn't annoyed at the younger boy. He actually laughed at his silliness and taught him royal fighting stances. They shared the animal Goku had killed. Suddenly, Vegeta heard Nappa's voice telling someone that his scouter had 'caught him'.

"I gotta go now."

"Okay. Will you come back here?"

"Perhaps."

"I'll be waiting!"

Vegeta had gone back the next day, and several days after that. Only a couple of hours at the most, but that did well to help build their friendship. When he couldn't go, and was bored, Goku would sneak into his room. A year had gone by.

Vegeta was broken apart from his thoughts as Goku squealed in happiness. He looked at the boy and then followed his eyesight. There was a big star alright… But it wasn't the horizon star. Vegeta then remembered that this wasn't the night the star showed to be bigger than usual. He facepalmed.

"You're an idiot. That's not the horizon star, Kakkarot." He said.

"Then what is it?"

It was approaching fast… It was a ship. An enormous ship.


	2. Lord Frieza

Thanks for the reviews, guys!

I'll go ahead and say, though, that I'm about to go back to school soon, and I haven't done any of the assignments they put me for vacations, so I'll be very busy. I'm trying to update as much as I can so as not to leave them in hiatus for too long, but I can't promise anything. I'm sorry if anything happens, but I hope you enjoy my stories and keep on reviewing :)

Happy New Year everyone!

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><p><strong>I don't own Dragon Ball Z. All rights go to Akira Toriyama and FUNimation.<strong>

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><p>Lord Frieza<p>

The two boys were sitting on the grass after an intense sparring session. They were staring at the horizon as they sank their feet into the water and watched as the fish swam around them.

"Hey, Vegeta. I heard the ship we saw the other day is from a powerful man."

Vegeta nodded. "Father says we should make business with him."

"My dad says he owns lots of planets."

Vegeta shrugged. "Maybe he heard of our mighty race and just wants to buy some of the planets we purge. He wouldn't be the first one."

"What's his name?"

"Frieza."

"Oh, right! Like a refrigerator. Man, I'm hungry."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "You're always hungry, fool."

Goku laughed and leaned back on the floor. As he lay there, looking at the sky, he put his hands behind his head. Vegeta looked down at him and then looked up at the sky. He would never admit it, but he didn't like the new ally. He had come unadvised, landing on the space Station as if he owned the planet. The Saiyans didn't attack out of curiosity. But, curiosity killed the cat… He tried to shake the nervous feeling in his gut and think of other things, but a guy who knew of the Saiyan's reputation and still had the courage to show up and demand an alliance… Well, he was something. Vegeta didn't like it when the safety of his planet was threatened, even if it was stupid.

Saiyans were the strongest race in the unverse. Right?

"So, you haven't met him?" Goku asked.

"No." he said. "But Zorn told me he is very ugly." Both boys laughed. Vegeta's scouter began to beep. "Dammit. I gotta go. See you." He said, standing up.

"Take care!"

"Hn."

The small prince put his boots on and flew away, leaving the thirdclass behind. As he arrived to the palace and climbed up to his window, the door to his room opened, revealing an annoyed Zorn and Nappa. Vegeta raised an eyebrow at them. They never went into his room without knocking. He hated it when someone got into his room to begin with, what were they doing there? Both guardians glared at the little prince and Zorn caught a glance at the open window. Vegeta glared back and growled threateningly, snapping Zorn back to attention.

"Well? Did you fools just wanted to come and see me, or will you tell me anything?"

"King Vegeta needs you." Zorn answered. "And judging by how he's sent almost half the palace to look for you, I'd say it is important." Vegeta sighed and walked up to the door, but Zorn stopped him, kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, Vegeta. Your father is very busy and a lot of things have been running around his mind. You would help a lot if you stopped worrying your father so much and stayed put. You are a prince, and you should start acting like one."

"What I do or don't do is none of your concern!"

"It is. I am your guardian. I have to protect you."

"I can protect my self."

"We're late, Zorn." Nappa said, crossing his arms.

Vegeta glared at him and walked out of the room, going out to his father's throne room.

The Throne Room consisted of three doors: The main door, where every commoner, servant, guard, and people who didn't belong to the Saiyan Royal family (and the Royal Guards) entered; and two side doors, where the king, the prince, the Queen, Zorn, Nappa, and the highly important Saiyans entered. Vegeta pushed the door open, followed by Zorn and Nappa, and stared as his father sat on his throne, one hand caressing his beard and the other on his knee. He seemed deep in thought. The prince walked up to him and looked up. His father spared a glance at him and then looked away, his lips moving slightly as though he were speaking to himself. Vegeta knew better than to interrupt his thoughts, so he just stood there. The King was probably calculating the profit of a new belt of planets nearby. He finally sighed and nodded in approval to himself. Then he looked down at his petite son.

"Where have you been, boy?"

"In my room, father."

"Don't lie to me. I had guards and servants searching for you. You weren't there half-an-hour ago."

"I was in the bathroom."

"Liar. They searched for you there, too. Tell me the truth, Vegeta."

"Fine." He said, rolling his eyes. "I went to the backyard and climbed on the trees. I was too high up for anyone to see me, trying to catch birds."

The King slapped him. Vegeta didn't even blink. It didn't hurt physically. His pride, though, was bleeding and he blushed as he glared at his father.

"I told you not to go out of the palace, Vegeta." He said. "Anyway…You know of our new visitor, don't you?"

"Frieza?"

"_Lord _Frieza, yes. You must address him as 'Lord', as he will address me as 'King', and you as 'Prince'. It's all a matter of education, son." He said. "He is powerful, and wants to form an alliance with us. It benefits us. He is coming this afternoon, and he wants to meet you. You should be ready. And I mean it. Look at you, you're dirty and your spandex is old. I'll have Milda bring new clothes and armor to your room immediately."

"Yes, father."

"Behave, son. This is a chance I do not want to miss."

"Yes, father."

"Good. You may go now." Vegeta nodded and turned to walk away, but his father spoke again. "One more thing." The boy stopped and turned to look at him. "Next time you go and catch a bird, make sure to _at least_ bring a piece of it. Sharing with your father never gets old." He said, winking.

Vegeta laughed and nodded. He walked away and up to his room.

Once there, he got into the bathroom and filled the tub with hot water. He undressed himself and tossed the clothes to the floor, knowing that a servant would pick it up to throw it away or wash it if it wasn't too ratty. He slowly got into his wide tub and purred in comfort, sinking into it and scrubbing off the dirt that had covered him after his spar with Goku. His tail waved around excitedly as he splashed on the water and played around, pretending he was an evil sea monster attacking a city. He was happy there. Finally, when the water was dirtier than him and cold, he let it go away and turned the faucet on to finish cleaning himself off.

He got out with a towel wrapped around his shoulders, since it was big enough to cover his entire body, and he walked out of the bathroom and into his room, where a new blue spandex suit and clean armor were waiting for him. He dressed himself, and put his cape and scouter on. Not too much time later, Goku's head appeared on the window, smiling.

"Hey, Vegeta!"

"Kakkarot." He grumbled. "What are you doing here?"

"I got soooo bored! Hey, you're clean! Are you going somewhere?"

"I'm going to meet Frieza." He said.

Goku got into the room and sat at the edge of the bed. "Whoa, cool."

"Fantastic." Vegeta said sarcastically.

"Raddi met him. He said he is very ugly! He looks like an overgrown lizard. And one of his assistants seems to be gay." Vegeta burst out laughing. It was hilarious to see his friend saying those words. "What?"

"Do you even know what _'gay'_ means, Kakkarot?"

"Happy?"

Vegeta laughed harder and shook his head. His scouter beeped.

"_Prince Vegeta, you are needed in the Throne Room immediately."_

"I'm going." He answered. "I need to go Kakkarot. Find your other friends and go bother them."

"Aww! But Turles is grounded and Broly went out on a mission with Paragus!"

Vegeta rolled his eyes and walked out of the room, leaving the little thirdclass alone, again.

He once again entered the Throne Room and saw his father sitting on the throne, talking to someone. He didn't show himself just yet. He listened for a moment, unable to see the visitor.

"…My son should accompany us soon, Lord Frieza."

"I'm eager to meet your offspring, King Vegeta."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. The voice was creepy, and incredibly effeminate. Was Lord Frieza actually a woman? He frowned when he heard something behind it… He could practically _feel_ the insanity in the creature's voice. His tail waved anxiously as he decided to step up and finally revealed himself. He almost fell to the ground as he looked at the monster, who sat on a hover chair, flanked by other two men.

Lord Frieza looked like a deformed lizard alright. But there was more to it. He noticed the black, pointy horns that protruded from his head and inwardly shuddered. He then spared a glance at the green man and the pink, deformed blob. He stood tall and defiant as he looked back at the lizard. It passed a long tongue along his black lips and chuckled low.

"This is my son, Prince Vegeta."

"Well, hello, Prince Vegeta."

"Lord Frieza." Vegeta said with a nod. This seemed to please his father enough as he got up from his throne.

"Well, shall we go to eat?"

"Yes, of course. Whatever you say, king Vegeta." Frieza said, without taking his eyes off of the Prince.

It struck Vegeta suddenly. The lizard was smiling as he looked at him. He was smiling as if he had gotten a new gift from someone.

A new trophy.

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><p>Please review if you like it!<p>

Will Vegeta's suspicions be proven right?

Find out in the next chapter of Friendship!


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